Small Business Advice, Tools & Support

Most of us never think about the strategy a company has, we just know whether it appeals to us or not. But it’s not hard to identify what a given business’s strategy is. Consider the McDonald’s strategy. Their goal is to sell fast food to make money,...

When a mistake or problem occurs in your organization, do team members usually blame a person? Or, do they take a step back and look at the system for answers? “Instead of anyone pointing a finger at a person if things go wrong, with a system’s view,...

Team members at Solid Blend Technlogies had a unified vision, but gaps in the company’s operations were starting to show. Solid Blend Technologies is a Dayton-based service water management company established in 1999. A company that’s growing often...

There are two models that can describe the way people are valued and managed in organizations. One is the centuries-old model associated with Isaac Newton where the physical world is thought of as a machine. This model also was adopted by biology...

What is "conscious leadership"—and how does it allow us to pause, reflect, and better respond to situations? In a brand new podcast, Wes Gipe (Business Advisor, Aileron) and Chuck Huggins (COO, Aileron) talk about conscious leadership in their words. ...

Several years ago, a customer came to Promotional Spring asking for point of purchase signage. (Promotional Spring is a company that creates experiences and solutions that help organizations to promote their products and services.) Even though they...

It’s been said that in the knowledge economy, it’s now every individual's responsibility to innovate with the customer in mind. When developing a new product or service, does your organization get feedback from customers along the way? And, do you...

Your effectiveness as a leader correlates with the amount of trust the people you lead have in you. The less trust they have in you, the more time you’ll have to spend making a case for what you’re trying to get done. If your people trust you, they...